773rd Airlift Squadron

United States Air Force unit

The 773rd Airlift Squadron called itself the "Fleagles" and was most recently assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio. The unit flew the Lockheed C 130 Hercules aircraft. The squadron was first activated as the 773rd Bombardment Squadron during World War II. After training in the United States with Boeing B 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before inactivating in Italy. The squadron was redesignated the 773rd Troop Carrier Squadron and activated in January 1953, when it assumed the mission, personnel and aircraft of a reserve unit that had been called to active duty for the Korean War and was being released from active duty. The squadron provided airlift for a number of contingency operations, and in 1968, moved to the Philippines, from which its crews and planes rotated to Vietnam to provide airlift support during the Vietnam War. The squadron was reactivated in the United States, where it continued airlift operations until inactivating in 1993. It was reactivated in the reserve in 1995.

The squadron was first activated as the 773rd Bombardment Squadron at Geiger Field, Washington on 1 August 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 463d Bombardment Group. The 773rd moved to Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, where it received its initial cadre. On 1 September, the key personnel of the squadron and 463rd Group moved to Orlando Army Air Base, where they participated in advanced tactical training with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. A model crew from the squadron moved to Montbrook Army Air Field to participate in simulated missions with a Boeing B 17 Flying Fortress. The cadre returned to Rapid City at the end of the month, where the ground echelon of the squadron was filled out and ground school begun. The squadron moved to MacDill Field, Florida in November and began flight training with the Flying Fortress, although its air echelon was not fully manned until early December. on 2 February, the squadron's ground echelon departed Florida for the port of embarkation at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, for shipment to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, while the air echelon ferried their B 17s via the southern ferry route. The following month, the squadron provided airlift for the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis. provided room for the 773rd and the other operational units of the 463rd Wing to move there. The squadron moved to Sewart in November 1958,

In July 1962, TAC established a Combat Crew Training School at Sewart. Starting with a single squadron, by the spring of 1963, the school had expanded to a full wing, the 4442nd Combat Crew Training Wing. As a result of the expansion of the C 130 training unit, the 463rd Wing, including the squadron, moved to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in July 1963. From Langley, the squadron deployed crews and planes to support the US response during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in the late summer of 1964. In late April 1965, the squadron participated in Operation Power Pack. Following a military coup in the Dominican Republic, Nineteenth Air Force formed an airlift task force to airlift the 82nd Airborne Division. On 28 and 29 April, the squadron flew C 130s to Pope Air Force Base to join the task force to transport elements of the 82nd Division to San Isidro Air Base. By September, peacekeeping functions had been transferred to Latin American counties' forces and the squadron helped return American forces to the United States.

While participating in Power Pack, the squadron was also deploying forces to airlift men and material to Southeast Asia. In November 1965, the 463rd Wing moved to Mactan Island Airfield, in the Philippines to provide this support full time, although the squadron moved to Clark Air Base. The squadron deployed as a unit frequently to Europe, where it came under the operational control of the 513th Tactical Airlift Wing in England or the 322d Tactical Airlift Wing in Germany, and later the 313th Tactical Airlift Group. It also deployed less frequently to the Pacific where it was controlled by the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing. The squadron flew humanitarian missions and participated in exercises. In November 1991, the squadron was assigned to the 463rd Operations Group and redesignated the 773rd Airlift Squadron with the implementation of the Objective Wing organization at Dyess. The squadron was inactivated and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 40th Airlift Squadron on 1 October 1993, when all operational units at Dyess became part of the 7th Wing.

On 1 April 1995, the Air Force reactivated the 773rd at Youngstown Warren Air Reserve Station, as part of the 910th Airlift Wing.